Christmas

    Christmas is always full of surprises, both good and bad.   The bad surpise this year so far, was that Tommy our kitten decided the Christmas tree was his new best play toy.  He climbed it and jumped for the decorations,  and the most fun of all, managed to tip it!  Not once, but, twice and the little dickens has been going for the third time!   This is a fake tree!  Of course I am most happy it is an artificial tree, because I can't even imagine cleaning up the mess a real tree would have made being tipped,   TWICE...
    Tommy is a rare treat though, he is full of mischief ( as most kittens are, ) but, he is also one of the most happy and affectionate cats I have ever had the pleasure to meet.  A flame point Siamese color, Tommy has the traditional blue eyes, and he as a tiny baby appeared to be white.   I was hesitant in taking Tommy home because of the white with blue eyes thing... Most of the cats I have encountered with this coloring are deaf,  I didn't want another special needs critter added to our menagerie...  Obviously, Tommy can hear, and quite well also,  he always hears a door opening into an area he ISN'T supposed to be in... this of course is an invitation for him to enter said room, unnoticed, until 5 minutes after you close the door to that room ( the spare bedroom, for instance).   Then the typical earsplitting Siamese yowl breaks forth,  this sound is quite loud and entirely unappealing, hence, one rushes to the closed door to let small kitten out of where ever he has gotten himself locked into.  He has trained me well...  
       Tommy loves to snuggle though, and burrow his face into whatever crevice he can find, which is quite a shock at 3 am when his cold wet feeling nose tries to find its way into the crook of my elbow or my armpit,  I can lie awake for hours following one of those little Tommy treats...
   Tommy is bigger  than our mini Dachschund Bailey now, it is rather entertaining to watch him lie in wait for her to come bouncing across the floor.  His chief delight is in being able to pounce upon said doggie and scare the bejeebers out of her!   Of course, Bailey retaliates, and so the game is on!  One chasing the other, until the opportunity appears for the chased to become the chaser!  Hours and hours of entertainment for my son and I, just sayin...


   Taz, our other cat, is much too dignified to openly play like Tommy does, but still loves the occasional snuggle as long as it is on his terms.   He is the embodiment of the "Cats have servants" cliche`...
    Taz is far more tolerant of unusual procedure though, we have had to vacuum both cats in the past few weeks ( don't even ask why...) and Taz was quite quiet ( type that three times quickly...), and easy to handle during that ordeal, he only tried to take a swipe at the vacuum itself, not my hands or Matthew's, I was impressed.  Tommy, on the other hand was a spitting demon,  he tore my hands up and managed to escape several times.  I hope I never have to vacuum a cat again...


   The tree,... our tree is many years old, I got it back in the early 1990's, but, it still looks quite elegant, especially with the LED lights on it.  We wisely chose to put only the unbreakable ornaments on the tree this year along with the candy canes that slowly disappear throughout the season, I wonder where they go??  My son, of course, would never eat our tree decorations,  or would he??  I digress,   Tommy chose to test the ability for curiousity to try to kill the cat... he bit into the light string,  I heard this enormous yelp, and looked over at the tree, kitten is streaking out from under said tree, but lights are still working, he must have just gotten a small zinger, hopefully, he has learned his lesson, the pretty lights are NOT edible.
   It is so nice to have timers for our decorations, they are some of  the best inventions  ( they don't top hot running water, that is my all time favorite!)   It is a pleasure to get up in the morning to have the tree pop on with its beautiful lights, so we can enjoy said lights as we are preparing for work and school, then they pop off around 8:30, so we don't use unneeded electricity when we aren't there to enjoy the  show anyway.   At 4:30 our tree lights come on again, and stay that way until 10:30, we don't have to worry about unplugging the tree or forgetting the lights on, I love being able to simplify my life!


    We attempted to decorate our chicken coop this year so that it resembles a little gingerbread house, we like how it turned out, and have had comments from our friends driving by how cute it looks.  One of our chickens Saffron, apparently doesn't like it, she insists on going into the old coop and roosting there.  Every night, part of my night time chore ritual is to go into the old coop and hand carry Saffron ( She is a Buff Orpington), into our little " gingerbread" chicken coop.  Once again, another critter, that has me ( and my son ) trained really well.
   I must be fairly easy to train, because our ducks also have my number...  When the cold set in this fall, I started bringing out warm water outside for the chickens and the ducks,  I would set it down on the ground near the porch, so they could drink and dabble in relative safety in the porch lights.  Now, I no sooner open the coop door ( on my way to feed horses) than the ducks head with distinct purpose up to the porch and practically yell for their warm water ( this water job is at the end of my morning chores, I being graviationally challenged, always spill and have no desire to start my chores in wet clothing...),   If you haven't ever heard a duck yell, just come on over to our house about 6 am...
    I am truly thankful for the blessings I have in my life, my furry and feathered friends, my human friends, and the life I have!